Tube PreAmplifier Kit suggestions..

[herculepirate]

DIY Audio users,

I am now looking into DIY options for a Tube Amplifier.
I am looking for a sweet, warm and dynamic and detailed TUbe Preamplifier....It would be great to have a XLR in/outs since the AR monoblocks do perform best in balanced mode...

My present equipment includes.....

Slim Devices SB3
Tact 2.0S as room correcting and Pre
Acoustic Reality eAR1001 REF monoblocks
Salk Sound HT3 speakers

I have been looking into good DIY kits...(I am a first timer)
Bottlehead Foreplay III ...i came across ...but have no idea of its tone..

Kindly recommend me Amp kits with the tone as described above.

Regards

HP

[Gordy]

Originally posted by herculepirate

I am looking for a sweet, warm and dynamic and detailed TUbe Preamplifier....

Bottlehead Foreplay III ...i came across ...but have no idea of its tone..

Kindly recommend me Amp kits with the tone as described above.

You are asking for judgement of sound quality based on sentiment and opinion from distant strangers. You do not know their preferances, their reference points, their systems, their biases, their intellect... or even their potential stupidity! How can you know that a pre-amp is *sweet* or *warm* just because someone says it is? How can I know what you mean by *sweet* or *warm* when you say these words?

You already have a preamplifier but you want another in the system also? You think that adding a tube preamplifier that someone describes as *sweet* or *warm* will change the response of your whole system to being *sweet* or *warm*?

My advice:
1. You have mainly digital equipment (SB3, Tact, AR), so perhaps a trip to the dealer to try some analog kit may be useful for you.

2. Does the SB3 store digital software files, or just receive and distribute them? If the latter, what is the original source of the music... is it quality-reduced internet download files stored on a PC? Perhaps you should audition a CD player with a view to ditching the (MP3, flac, wav) files.

3. I have seen digital systems 'helped' by the addition of 'lossy' input transformers (1:1 ratio at the analog input to the power amp) which effectively filter out some of the out-of-band hash that often accompanies digital systems.

4. If you still want *sweet* or *warm* then the sentiment-driven audiophile gurus (I bow down to them) at AudioAsylum.com will be able to give you a thousand opinions; every one different yet every one so absolutely right.

Good luck : )

[boywonder]

Welcome herculepirate!

If your goal is to experience a tube preamp, I would suggest picking up a clean used one on audiogon or somewhere else and seeing if it does the trick. If not, your loses are minimal when you decide to resell and try something else.

If your goal is to build something and learn a little (or a lot) about audio design and tubes, this is the right place. Tube kits and scratch-built tube gear are not going to have the re-sale value of popular brand tubed gear, but satisfaction with a completed project and the ability to tweak the design are some of the benefits.

What is your electronics skill level? Can you solder reasonably well? Do you have a multimeter or scope? Have you built anything else in the past? Are you comfortable working around high (250-400 VDC) voltage?

That being said, the first question is to determine how much gain you need. Assuming that you are just needing line-level inputs (no phono), most sources are capable of driving a power amp with little to no gain. Do you know how much gain your existing preamp has? At reasonable listening levels, how far is the volume cranked up?

The bottlehead offerings are a popular project (I believe there is a Bottlehead forum), as well as the Aikido (www.tubecad.com), and 12b4 designs (and others) here. The Bottlehead kits will be the most complete, folllowed by the Aikido (you buy PCBs and stuff them, and a handful of other parts).

The only experience I have is with a 9-pin Aikido and it is very nice. It's presently displaced my anthem Pre-1 in my rig. The Aikido offers lots of tube rolling opportunities, and the ability to change the gain quite easily. One final point, the Bottlehead kits and many of the preamp projects here are point-to-point wired, and the Aikido PCBs are available in 9-pin stereo and mono configs, and octal stereo and mono configs. I bring this up not because of any sonic reasons, but to point out that stuffing PCBs is slightly easier/faster than most point-to-point designs.

I have no idea with balanced inputs, but as a first project, you may want to consider the conventional single-ended input, as it is simpler.

[Evenharmonics]

Originally posted by herculepirate

I am looking for a sweet, warm and dynamic and detailed TUbe Preamplifier....It would be great to have a XLR in/outs since the AR monoblocks do perform best in balanced mode...

"sweet, warm" sound and balanced circuit don't mix due to odd harmonics it adds. You'll be better off running it unbalanced (as in typical consumer audio gear).